


i let it into my bed (led a long way down)

by atat



Category: Skulduggery Pleasant - Derek Landy
Genre: ......tentacle sex, Aftercare, F/M, Fluff, Not Actually Tentacles Cuz They're Shadows but... you know, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Pining, Resolved Sexual Tension, Slight Choking, Some Plot, Teasing, Valkyrie swears a lot, Vilekyrie, actually really sweet ok, adult valkyrie thank you very much, im sorry and ur welcome, shadow fucking, the vilekyrie content we all crave
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-23 04:29:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18542287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atat/pseuds/atat
Summary: Skulduggery's been Vile for a while, and Valkyrie misses him too much.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> title from less sex by daughters. 
> 
> this is set somewhere in phase 2.

She missed him.

The void of his absence seemed to be an ever-present hole in her chest. An emptiness. A Skulduggery-sized hole. One he dig slowly, relentlessly, with each time he made her laugh or cry through their years, until he became a part of her days just as much as herself. When she had gone to America, he was at least just a phone call away. Right now it felt much like when he got lost in the Faceless Ones’ dimension. It was just as suffocating. Maybe worse. He hadn’t made himself as essential to her then as he is now. She wondered if this was how he felt when Darquesse took over for those months.

Although the feeling was constant, she tried her best not to dwell on it, while still looking into possibilities of bringing him back at every other time she wasn’t eating, sleeping or working as an Arbiter. Vile had took him from her for a while now. Missing him wouldn’t bring him back, though.

Valkyrie forced herself to focus her eyesight when her attention was required again. 

“Miss? Would you like a plastic bag with those?” The cashier’s voice brought her back to reality.

“Hm? Oh, no, thank you” Valkyrie took her frozen pizza and put it under her arm and took the wine bottle on her other (both of which she was probably being judged very much for) and left with a curt smile to the young girl.

She planned having another full night alone investigating Vile’s whereabouts. Those had been happening increasingly often. She felt on the verge of a breakthrough. All she needed to do was to push it a little more.

With Tanith gone to whoever knows where for the moment, she had her help from China, sometimes. Despite her obligations and duties and the sheer amount of bureaucracy, she almost always seemed to make time for Valkyrie when she came to her for help, or allowed her time off as an Arbiter so she could have more time to investigate. The Vile case was top priority for the Sanctuary, after all, and for the entire magic world too, in all honesty. She seemed actually worried about him too, which came as a nice enough surprise. Good to have China on her side for as long as 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 lasts, anyway. She even found her concerned for Valkyrie’s well-being as well. She was as supportive as China could be.

Valkyrie got home and immediately set the oven to heat so she could have her meal, and went upstairs to retrieve her laptop from her bedroom, so she had her notes on all the sightings of anything shadowy or murderous around lately.

It was when Valkyrie had gone through her fifth gulp of wine (straight from the bottle) and while she was cramming in a substantially huge amount of cheesy deliciousness in her mouth that she noticed China Sorrows on her kitchen doorway.

Valkyrie starts, choking on her pizza, mortified at having her 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 and no less seeing her like this. “Like this” meaning a mouthful of pizza that was probably about to leak at any time now. China looked completely unbothered, despite just witnessing her fully inhaling an entire slice of the frozen meal.

“What” Valkyrie started after a few seconds of undignified coughing, “Are you doing here? Don’t you knock?”

“So sorry to interrupt your little rituals Valkyrie, but I seem to have a piece of information much too important to wait for such mundane things as knocking.”

China waited a few more moments so Valkyrie could make herself more presentable, human-like at the very least. The latter wiped her mouth with a napkin and took a deep breath. 

“What is it?” She asked, with anticipation to hear China’s news, which could only really be about Vile if she came all this way, after all.

“It’s Wreath. He was attacked last night by Vile. He’s slightly slashed to ribbons right now, but he’s recovering at the Sanctuary.”

She was struck by those news. Not that he had attacked someone, Vile had attacked many other people before, mortals and sorcerers alike, but never anyone as close to them. She wondered if he had a motive this time. The other victims had no connection between them, and didn’t even seem to have that much of a reason to be picked other than being at the wrong place and at the wrong time. This couldn’t be much too different. Although… 

“And… Wreath apparently has reason to believe he might be going after you, next.”

Valkyrie said nothing.

“Hence why I thought it was important to come here so I could tell you personally.”

Skulduggery was fighting back. The fact that Wreath, of all people, was the one Vile attacked couldn’t be a coincidence. Maybe this was his way of getting his control back, or at least partly. Although he never did like Wreath that much, to go out and attack him is still Vile. But it was better than Valkyrie had gotten for months. She started to feel hopeful and more than a bit scared that she could be a target. Maybe now, she could reason with him, try and bring him back?

“Where was he seen last?” Valkyrie asked. If it had been nearby he could be closer than she imagined.

China sighed. “He was on the outskirts of Roarhaven when it happened.”

“Oh.” Was all Valkyrie said.

He was coming for her. 

She stood a chance of bringing him back, finally.

China observed her.

“So, how do we want to play this? We can ambush him, now that we know where he’s going to be. I can get Cleavers to watch you 24/7, or have Temper be with you until-” China walked into the kitchen now, started laying out plans, only to be interrupted by Valkyrie.

“I don’t think that’ll work. I have a feeling Vile won’t come if we’re setting a trap. It’s too easy.” 

“Then what? You don’t seriously expect you can confront him by yourself?”

Valkyrie crossed her arms.

“Far too many have died already, Valkyrie. I am not letting that number get any higher.” China said with a tone that brook no argument.

“If you don’t want anyone else to get hurt, then let me face him. Alone. I can get to him, China, I know it. I just need you to let me try. If anyone can do it, it’s me.” 

China just looked at her with her cold, pale blue eyes, and seemed to evaluate her request. Valkyrie couldn’t help but think that she could very well try to set up some kind of trap for him behind her back. Which could be a bloodbath. Vile is much too strong to be caught in those things. To even try would be stupid, and she really hopes China knows it. 

“Although I do believe that if someone were to get to Skulduggery it would be you, I cannot bring myself to simply sit and watch this. You must have a backup plan. A warning sigil of some sort, so if things turn sour, you can call us and I’ll have Fletcher ready and waiting  
with enough people to at the very least, hold him off.”

“I’m OK with that.” Valkyrie nodded. After China said nothing more, she turned her gaze to her now cold pizza. China noticed her interest was already back in her food and sighed.

Valkyrie might be seeing Skulduggery much, much sooner than she expected. Either to have him back for good, or to probably cause the death of a great many deal of people who’ll try to hold Vile back. She was already anxious from thinking about it. Skulduggery is fighting back, though. All she needs to do now is meet him halfway.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> oh boy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> of course my first time ever writing smut would be shadow fucking. obviously. look. i'll feed all of you fuckers, even if you don't want me to. it's okay.

After China finished carving the warning sigil on a small disk-shaped rock, she left Valkyrie by herself on Gordon’s house. Valkyrie felt like bait. She contemplated sleeping and then had the mental image of Vile with his fully black armour standing tall at her bedside while she slept, and thought better of it with a shiver. She looked at her dining table, her pizza already gone and her wine bottle half-finished. Surely couldn’t finish that now, she assumed.

Valkyrie decided to have a bath. There was no use being at the ready for him the entire time, since she wasn’t planning on fighting anyway. And a hot bath could do wonders to soothe her nerves. As she got upstairs and started preparing her bath, she noticed herself finally fully feeling the effects of the wine, too. Good. 

She rummaged through her bathroom closet for something, and watched the bath bomb Skulduggery had gotten her years ago dissolve into the hot water. She undressed and got in.

As soon as she felt her skin being enveloped by the warmness of the water she could feel her anxieties fading. She knew she could get to him. All that was left to do was wait.

Valkyrie closed her eyes. She felt tipsy and relaxed from the wine and laid in the hot bath for what seemed like the longest time.

Valkyrie woke up, suddenly aware of her surroundings again. She fell asleep. On the tub. She gets up, noticing her pruney fingers and wonders just how much time she spent in there. She checks her clock for the time and sees the gleaming light of the time blinking at her through her phone. She had been in the tub only for a couple of hours. At least she hadn’t drowned. That would’ve been something.

She dries herself off at the bathroom, wraps the towel around her middle and heads to her room to get dressed. 

That’s when she sees him, and stops moving altogether.

Lord Vile, as tall and as menacing as she remembered him - stands in her room, looks right towards her. Valkyrie clutches her towel tighter, suddenly a lot more aware of the nightly cold of her surroundings. She just stands there for a few seconds, doesn’t quite know what to do. Remembers distantly that she left the disk shaped rock on her bedroom when getting ready for her bath. She needs to get in there.

She takes a reluctant step forward as if approaching a wild animal. He stays still, the shadows around him swirling, playful, but under control. At the ready, she assumes, if she tries something. She doesn’t think she’ll call China, yet. There’s no reason to. But she wants to be ready to do so. 

“Hi.” She says. Vile doesn’t respond.

Thankfully, he wasn’t standing in her path, allowing her to come inside her bedroom without any awkwardness. She stands close enough to the stone and hopes he hadn’t noticed it. He follows her movements with his head though, always staring, assessing.

“I’ve missed you, you know.” Valkyrie says. To Skulduggery. Not Vile.

He says nothing. Neither does he try to attack her, or do anything, really. She thinks she really should be happier that he isn’t trying to kill her. But maybe even that would be better than this cold silence. She can’t tell what he’s thinking. Unlike Skulduggery, whom she knows like the back of her hand, Vile is indecipherable.

“Are you in there? Skulduggery?” She calls, already knowing nothing would happen. But she couldn’t afford not trying everything.

She looks at him, his armour as black as the shadows that surround him, and tries looking past the crevices of his helmet, searching for any traces of white bones underneath, or anything, really. It was pitch dark inside.

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you for so long, and now that we’re finally here you’ll just leave me hanging? Come on.” She says, shaking her head with a smile, hoping to push him out with irony, banter, whatever.

Still, he just stands there. Valkyrie was getting, by each minute, less scared and more annoyed.

“You’re really no fun you know. Definitely the more annoying part of Skulduggery. Well. He certainly has his moments, too. But I think you take the cake on this one.”

She steps closer to him, hoping to get a reaction, any reaction. Nothing. She has an idea. She reaches with her hand, still carefully, and pokes him slowly, in his chest. He is solid as a rock. The shadows pay her no mind. 

Nothing.

Valkyrie is frustrated to say the least. She has no idea what to do. She thought the hard part was just getting him in the same room as her, but now that they were here, she felt absolutely directionless. What could she do? Cry? Beg? Luring him out with irony didn’t work. Talking didn’t seem to do anything either. What could she do to make him come back to her? 

A wave of exhaustion takes her over. She just misses him so much, god damn it. The ache grows stronger, more unbearable, now that he’s right in front of her. She has worked her ass off to have him here. And now he is. And he’s as responsive as a brick wall. She just wants her partner back. 

Valkyrie lets her head drop and feels her eyes burning with the brimming of incoming tears and stays there for a few moments. She feels as close and as far from him as she had gotten for months.

When she finally looks up, she sees Vile looking down at her.

And then - he tilts his head. 

And that’s when Valkyrie breaks. This small act that just screams 𝘩𝘪𝘮, makes her resolve shatter completely, feels an enormous sympathy for the man in front of her. He must be fighting for so long as well. She feels her tears running freely down her face now, and sniffles weakly, taking a small step forward, and then another, until she is inches away from the chest plate of his armour and reaches her arms around him, enveloping him in a hug, resting her head on his hard chestplate.

She feels absolutely ridiculous immediately, hugging Vile’s huge, motionless dark figure, while still only wearing a towel, but she’s overcome with the need to get closer to where Skulduggery is- Might be.

The armour is cold. So cold, she feels a shiver run down her still naked arms. She never did mind the coldness of his hugs, though. 

Valkyrie tightens the hug, and starts to feel a thread of shadow on her calf, softly, surprisingly, after a moment of the shadows showing no reaction. So soft it could very much be silk, she feels another tendril on her other leg, in similar movements, never calculated or synchronized. Comforting. She remembers the disk-shaped rock China gave her distantly and feels very torn for a second. She could end this instantly. He seems as off guard as she’s ever seen. But then, the shadows reach up, and up, coming so far as her thighs and she pushes aside the idea altogether, and heaves a shaky sigh.

His shadows wrap her up by her shoulders as well, curling around the skin, and a single dark tendril wraps loosely around her neck, caresses her cheek, wiping away at the remainder of her tears gently, and Valkyrie loses herself on the sensation, feels heat travel downwards, deep into the pit of her stomach. The shadows feel amazing on her. She had never seen Necromancy magic, especially his, being so tender. She shudders, finds herself becoming intoxicated on the feeling, emboldened.

She broke contact, stepping backwards slightly so she could have some room to move, and without thinking very much, dropped her towel on the ground.

A beat.

Vile was still as ever.

“𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺? Not even that?” Valkyrie huffed, sniffled again, pride slightly wounded but still, absolutely (and increasingly) horny. She shifted her weight to her other foot. His shadows continued swirling around him, showing no reaction at all, either. 

Until they did. Reaching for her again, so fast she initially thought they’d cut her, Valkyrie was thrown to lie in the bed behind her with a rush of air around her body, taken completely by surprise.

A shocked yelp escaped her, due to the sheer unpredictability of him, and despite the absurdness of the entire situation, let out a small giggle. Vile (Skulduggery?) was 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 starting to give in to her goads. Progress.

She got up slightly from the position she had been thrown into, sitting up and looking at him. She was, surprisingly to herself, not too self-aware about her state of undress comparing to him, still with his full armour. He had already seen her naked a number of times already, anyway. Vile took a few steps towards her, and let the shadows reach for her again. Valkyrie watched him approach with curiosity, and bit her bottom lip with anticipation until they touched her skin again. 

One of the shadow strings takes to her inner thighs, teasing, and another continues upwards, creeping up her toned stomach, firstly stroking the underside of her breasts, then reaching up towards her nipples, circling them delicately the way only this fluid, not completely solid material could. She feels her nipples hardening under the stimulation, shuddering slightly. The shadows, although not freezing cold like his armour, were not warm. She bites back a moan when she realizes the full scope of her situation, feels herself growing wetter by the minute.

Valkyrie arches against the shadow-touch on her chest, shamelessly chasing her arousal, doubt completely gone and replaced only by need, need to be closer to him, in whatever way she can. And if she could get off in the meantime, too, she really couldn’t see why not.

She looks at him, still impassively watching her, even while the shadows tweak and stroke at her body, and imagines Skulduggery still in there, imagines if Vile currently was purely his unconscious or if he has any real notion of what was happening. She hoped with everything she had it was the latter.

Not how she imagined their first time, but she’ll take it.

The shadow on her thighs reaches higher and expands from a simple strand to almost a hand’s width and gives her core a broad, upward stroke. Valkyrie moans aloud again, is distinctively aware of how silent he is, the contrast between them. She is at an obvious disadvantage, but doesn’t feel like complaining too much.

It branches, and one tendril focuses on her clit, while the other teases her outer labia, and Valkyrie feels herself starting to sweat, is unable to hold in a choked “Fuck!” when he circles her clit, rocks into the stimulation. Wanting more, needing more.

The tendril around her breasts expands and solidifies slightly, leaving one branch still on her right breast while the other goes up, caressing her collarbone, wrapping tenderly around her neck, so tenderly, she thinks she’s going insane from the touch and how good it feels already. 

He hadn’t even gotten inside her yet. She rocks her hips again, demanding, seeking to be filled down there, and the thick shadow around her neck tightens. Not hard enough to stop her breathing, just pressuring, restraining, as if asking for patience. She wishes Skulduggery was here, so she could listen to it in his voice, go even crazier. Valkyrie feels a full body tremor at the thought.

By now, her wetness is already close to drenching the sheets beneath her completely, her skin hot and sweaty from her arousal. Valkyrie forgets Vile is even there for a moment, entranced by the shadows and how they make her feel. Standing so still, so silent, it’d be hard to imagine he is the source of all this. She realizes there is a lot beneath the surface when it comes to him.

Valkyrie looks up at him again, knuckles white with the strength in which she's grasping at the sheets.

“Please.” She heaves, thinking she can’t take the teasing anymore, needs him inside her now. Almost laughs a little at how unlike her it is to reach this level of desperation, how unlikely this entire situation feels. 

Vile tilts his head again, acknowledging her truly for maybe the second time for the entire night. And seems to oblige, allowing the tendril on her slit to enter her. Slowly, leisurely. She throws her head back, closes her eyes. 

“Oh God”, She breathes.

Valkyrie has, in all certainty, never felt like this before. The shadow inside her curls upward and she lets out a desperate moan, almost screams with how it feels, how it hits her exactly right. Feeling herself desperate for it already, she tries chasing it more frantically, heedless of whatever warnings he seemed to be giving, until she feels the pressure on her neck more strongly. 

He slows down the motions of the thread moving inside her gradually, clearly drawing it out, and Valkyrie feels like crying with desperation.

“Stop- Stop fucking teasing, Skulduggery, I swear to God-” Valkyrie manages, trying to sound at least somewhat threatening, too far gone to rationalize on what to call him. She tries to keep looking at him, but the shadows don’t stop, dragging in and out of her in their careful movements and she throws her head back again with a groan, consequently pulling against the tendril around her neck.

Vile starts walking forward, moving from his spot at last, coming to a stop right in front of her, staring her down from the edge of the bed with the same tilt to his head. Valkyrie knows she probably looks quite the picture, moaning and quivering down there, the shadows all over her body. The part of her that is not absolutely going mad from arousal wonders briefly if he likes what he sees. 

She wants to reach out to him, get him closer. As much as the shadows are doing a very good job, she wants more. Valkyrie Cain was never one to deny herself anything, really.

Two more shadow tendrils come up and Valkyrie, despite herself, gets equal parts nervous and excited. It slides underneath her thighs and wraps around both of her legs, and before she realizes she’s being pulled closer to Vile, as if she weighs absolutely nothing.

She gasps, moans when he picks up the speed, returning his ministrations around her clit. 

“Fucking hell” Valkyrie swears for what feels like the hundredth time, “Skulduggery- please, come over here” She begs, looking up at him, her brows furrowing with pure unbridled need.

She now lays closer to the edge of the bottom of her bed, her thighs being lifted by the strings. She could reach him now, if she wanted to. She really wants to.

Her hands release the sheets underneath her, finally, and she reaches out to touch him. Vile leans in, and with some effort, she grabs him by his cold shoulders and supports her weight like that. 

The thrill of the new angle, along with the feeling of now being suspended in the air rips out a whine from her throat as she continues rutting against the shadows. 

She closes her eyes, focuses on the sensations, she feels 𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨, and she’s so close and-

The shadows slow, coming to a stop.

Valkyrie feels overwhelmed with frustration. She sobs, wants to hit him, definitely would have, had she been a little more functional and not still hanging on for dear life on his shoulders. 

“Fuck! Please- Don’t” She tries, closer to tears than she would like to admit. “You fucking prick”

He stands there, tilts his head sideways slightly. He looks smug, God knows how. she might be better at reading him than she initially thought. He looks smug and she wants to hit him.

The hands on his shoulders are now gripping around the shoulder plates of his armor, so eager to just tear it off altogether. To give him some of the trouble back that he seems to be so keen on giving her. As if she wasn’t living for it. As if this wasn’t a better catharsis of their unresolved tension than she had ever imagined. If she could only 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩, god damn it.

“Please. Skul, I need to come. Please.” She begs, her voice soft, pulls herself upwards so she can press herself into him, realizes she is full-on climbing him like a tree and isn’t even fazed at it.

Her breasts press against the coldness of his chest plate and she represses another shiver. The contrast between her scalding body and the coldness of his drives her further up the wall, again. She pulls him into an embrace, now holding herself up by her legs around his waist. She remembers distantly another instance where they were in this position, her and Vile. Darquesse and Vile. She likes this one better. 

One of his hands go around her and support her weight by her lower back and she feels hopeful again. She 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 this, for fuck’s sake.

The other snakes between them and she feels his gauntlet press against her core, draws in a sharp breath.

The metal of it is harsh, but her eager flesh pays little mind, and she actually gasps when he traces her entrance with a sharp index finger. She has half a mind to flinch, although some part of her is curious to see what exactly it is he’s doing. Valkyrie trusts him, through and through, and she wonders if this is him testing that trust.

Then, she feels rather than sees the shadows enveloping and extending over his index and middle fingers, covering the roughness of the metal.

Oh.

Vile finally, 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, continues touching her and Valkyrie wants to sob with gratefulness. She tightens her arms around him and closes her eyes instead.

He strokes in a downward motion from her clit and enters her again, languidly, and then picks up his pace, his shadow-covered fingers reaching deep inside her.

She moans in his shoulder, finally being able to meet his movements with her hips and chases her crest, uninterrupted. A shadow plays at her clit, and she’s getting close again, almost scared to do so. 

The pent-up arousal from the delayed orgasm intensifies every movement he and his shadows make, and she finds herself closer and closer and he speeds up and she’s gripping his shoulders tighter and-

“Skulduggery!” She shouts as she comes, and Vile doesn’t stop his motions inside of her, letting her ride out her well deserved orgasm and she suddenly realizes she actually did tear off his shoulder plate, her hands having to grasp whatever was under it.

She reaches for it, and it’s bone. He finally slows to a stop.

Valkyrie is still hanging onto him, panting against his neck, catches her breath for a minute. Then, she lets her body drop back into the bed beneath them.

When she looks up, she sees Vile, his right shoulder plate missing, and in its place, a clavicle. She gets up in a haste, reaches for the other shoulder plate, pulls it off with a lot of effort, and subsequently continues so until he is back as her skeleton, the armour in a pile on her floor.

He stays completely still until she’s done and afterwards, just stands there. Valkyrie pokes him from behind with a finger and he falls to the bed. Luckily, his body stays attached to itself.

She chuckles a bit at the sight of him. The effort from freeing himself from Vile’s hold must have drained all his energy. Well, that orgasm drained all of hers.

Valkyrie jumps into the bed next to him, rearranges the covers so he’s underneath them, and stares. She’s missed seeing him, so much. She catalogs the familiar nicks and scars on his skull, leans in to kiss his cheekbone.

And he stirs, turning his head towards her, properly. She nearly jumps at the motion.

“Hello.” He says. With that voice.

“Hey.” She says back. “I’ve missed you.”

“I should think so” He sort of grumbles.

She doesn’t bother hiding her grin.

“So, uh…” She starts, not knowing quite how to put it. She settles for “Were you- there? For all of that?”

He just looks at her for a moment. She fears his answer.

“I was.” He says, matter of factly.

“Oh.” She blushes a bit, involuntarily.

A beat.

“Never took you as the begging kind” He teased.

She blushes more. “Never took 𝘺𝘰𝘶 as the sexual torturer kind. Well. Maybe I sort of did.”

He chuckles quietly and she stretches her arms over her head, yawns. She watched Skulduggery and not for the first time, wished she knew where his gaze was. He remained still and facing her.

“Well, I’m exhausted so…” She smirks at him slightly, still basking in post-coital bliss.

“So?” He pesters.

“So, I’d like to sleep. And- you’re welcome to stay here, if you want to.” She concludes turning the other way, still beaming. Still deliriously happy from how these events turned out.

“Well, I can hardly dispute that, can I?” He says, sliding himself closer to her and embracing her from behind. She welcomes the feeling of hard bones against her own skin. Somehow, smiles even more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feel free to shout at me at justbackground on tumblr or in the comfort of your own home. hope you enjoyed this very self indulgent piece of work! 
> 
> also thanks to my baby and sweet angel ysogrim for always cheering me on and enabling me. love u.


End file.
